The receipt, processing and delivery of wireless media, such as satellite-based video media, has become increasingly challenging as the amount of data to be delivered increases. In addition, prior approaches to the reception and delivery of such media for playback at one or more locations have often required complex wiring, which can be difficult or impossible to implement in desired locations.
For example, as direct broadcast satellite operators move from standard definition (SD) to high definition (HD), more transmission bandwidth is needed for HD transmissions. Generally, the increased transmission bandwidth needed for receiving HD transmissions from satellites is provided by transponders distributed over multiple satellites. This requires aggregation of the signals from multiple satellites, and delivery of the signals to end devices such as set-top boxes or other devices that can extract video data from an appropriate channel for playback.
Previous approaches to delivering satellite media data to end devices have also generally required a dedicated communications link, such as a radio frequency (RF) coaxial cable. In addition, these approaches have been limited in the number of channels or feeds that can be provided to respective end devices.
In addition to the above matters, it is often desirable to store received media data, such as might correspond to a television program, live sporting event or movie. However, the storage and playback of media data has been generally limited to specific devices to which the media has been delivered (e.g., digital video recorders integrated with set-top boxes). Moreover, the management and control of stored media and its playback has also been similarly limited to that which occurs at a particular device.
These and other issues remain challenging to data communications, and in particular to the fast and simple communication of data such as multimedia data